This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
After the craziness of the last two weeks on the PGA Tour, it would seem like there'd be only one stat that matters for this week: who is the 297th ranked player in the world? That honor, after being held by the last two winners on the PGA Tour, James Hahn and Padraig Harrington, goes to Steve Webster. He doesn't play on the PGA Tour, however, and thus we must proceed with the stats thread as usual.
... But First!
Want to know why our jobs as fantasy golf analysts are so hard?!? Courtesy of our friends at the PGA Tour: ummm, yeah, I don't think anyone who would have recommended Harrington to win last week.
History Lesson
The defending champion of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral is Patrick Reed -- this is where he made his now famous "top five" comment -- who beat Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson by one. In 2013, Tiger Woods beat Steve Stricker by two, and in 2012 Justin Rose beat Watson by one.
Our pick of these golfers is Reed, who nearly won last week before a late stumble and should bounce back nicely this week as he has a personality that uses failure as a form of motivation. He ranked 14th in strokes gained-tee to green and 17th in strokes gained-putting last week at PGA National.
Watson is also a strong pick with his win in Shanghai last fall and his T2 finish in Phoenix this year. He ranks
After the craziness of the last two weeks on the PGA Tour, it would seem like there'd be only one stat that matters for this week: who is the 297th ranked player in the world? That honor, after being held by the last two winners on the PGA Tour, James Hahn and Padraig Harrington, goes to Steve Webster. He doesn't play on the PGA Tour, however, and thus we must proceed with the stats thread as usual.
... But First!
Want to know why our jobs as fantasy golf analysts are so hard?!? Courtesy of our friends at the PGA Tour: ummm, yeah, I don't think anyone who would have recommended Harrington to win last week.
History Lesson
The defending champion of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral is Patrick Reed -- this is where he made his now famous "top five" comment -- who beat Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson by one. In 2013, Tiger Woods beat Steve Stricker by two, and in 2012 Justin Rose beat Watson by one.
Our pick of these golfers is Reed, who nearly won last week before a late stumble and should bounce back nicely this week as he has a personality that uses failure as a form of motivation. He ranked 14th in strokes gained-tee to green and 17th in strokes gained-putting last week at PGA National.
Watson is also a strong pick with his win in Shanghai last fall and his T2 finish in Phoenix this year. He ranks sixth in strokes gained-tee to green and first in strokes gained-total this season.
Who is Playing
The top 50 in the world are all at Doral, which gives us many from which to choose.
I really like Phil Mickelson this week. I know he struggled Monday in the completion of the final round at Honda, but remember that he tends to pop up at random times and play really well out of nowhere, which seemed to be the case last week. He gained 3.5 strokes on the greens in the third round and was 33rd in strokes gained-putting (his season rank is 116th) and T17 in strokes gained-total for the week. That showed improvement.
If you're looking for consistency, I'd also go with Jim Furyk. I know that kind of sounds odd, since he's had so much trouble closing 54-hole leads, but fantasy can also be about getting those consistent top-10s, and he and Matt Kuchar do just that. Furyk hasn't played enough rounds to be ranked officially yet, but his greens in regulation percentage - 72.92 percent -- would put him fifth on Tour. Kuchar, meanwhile, ranks 17th in scoring average and seventh in the all-around ranking so far in the 2014-2015 season. He has two top-10s and five top-25 finishes in six starts this season.
Adam Scott is making his season debut off a 10-week break, and while he says he practiced a lot in Australia, it may be best to avoid him for a week.
Puerto Rico Picks
There's an opposite-field event this week, the Puerto Rico Open. The defending champion is Chesson Hadley, who gets to defend his title, never a good sign. (Ideally you use the victory as a springboard to be able to play in Doral this time next year).
If your fantasy league includes this event we recommend: Hadley, past champion Scott Brown, Jeff Overton who played well last week at the Honda Classic and Zachary Blair who has also displayed some solid form at times in 2015.
New Way to Track Stats
The PGA Tour debuted its new iPad app this week and from the videos and screenshots linked here, it sure looks like the upgrade a lot of golf diehards have been asking for, allowing you to track your favorite players and their stats like the media can on-site. One tip: don't be afraid to reach out to the PGA Tour with feedback. In our experience, Tour officials are receptive to it.
